Falling Moon
by Sock.Corgi
Summary: Matthew and Alfred are twins and the adopted sons of Arthur Kirkland and Francis Bonnefoy, who had just been married when they adopted the newborn twins. Matthew is a quiet type, wanting little friends as they bring him stress. His brother is the opposite, loud with many friends. Problems arise when the family returns home after years of traveling and Alfred begins to feel ashamed
1. Memories

I don't know exactly where I was born, no one but my real mother really knows that but no one knows who she is or where she could possibly be. You see, me and my brother were one of those 'left on a doorstep' baby stories. It's pretty cliché but fire stations have those safe drop off places for a reason. Most people wouldn't guess though, they think we're test tube babies or something because we look like our adopted parents, but that's just some weird coincidence. We were adopted about two weeks or so after our actual birthday so my parents decided to make the day they brought us home for the first time to be our birthdate, the first of July. When we got older my brother, Alfred, didn't want to have the same birthday anymore because he thought double birthdays, especially ones with me, were, and I quote, "hella lame." After that he made our parents throw two parties, the first for me on our actual birthday, the second for him on the Fourth of July.

When I think back to my first memory, I think of my first plane ride. I don't remember how old I was, or where we were going but I do remember it was the first plane ride because of how afraid I was. We'd been in the airport for a while and I had lost my favorite stuffed toy somewhere while going through security. I have always been sensitive, and that toy was the best thing in my life at the time, so I started crying. The attention I was getting while trying to explain that my toy was gone made Alfred jealous, so he started crying loudly and running around, gaining all the attention. By the time our Dad and Papa calmed him down they'd forgotten I had been crying. I never got that toy back. The actual plane ride was less eventful, I'd gotten a seat next to my Dad, who was no good at calming my first-plane ride nerves.

By now you've probably realized I didn't get adopted by a straight couple but rather a gay couple. I love my parents, they're great and I'm grateful to have them but they're both pretty unique. I call them Papa and Dad.

Papa's name is Francis Bonnefoy, he is an artist, he has always worked from home to take care of us so he is the more nurturing of the two. He's great at cooking and baking, he does most of the cleaning, yet somehow he isn't that responsible. He likes to act inappropriate with Dad, which is gross, along with not caring much for education and grades because of how he got successful without college. He's carefree, lovable and humorous, so why would he ever marry someone like my Dad.

My Dad's name is Arthur Kirkland, he's a strict guy. He demands we do as we are told, that we get all our chores done, we finish all our homework. He's always preaching about alcohol and drugs being horrible but me and Alfred both know that he drinks, so does Papa but they are never drunk in front of us. Dad went to college, got his degree, and is now this cliche grumpy businessman. He's an accountant, which makes sense because he is possibly the smartest guy I know. Dad is horrible at cooking, so much so that he is not allowed near the kitchen, unless he's making tea, that's the one thing he's good at making(even though you barely make tea.) He tries to be as nurturing as Papa, but he's more of the scolding type. I still love him just as much, though.

He loves to teach us to be "proper" though, it's probably the best part of his life as far as I can tell. He basically trained us to speak in a perfect British accent like him, never mispronouncing a word, only using proper grammar, always using manners, but I don't mind, it's fun. Makes us 'unique' in a way.

I feel my brother is the exact opposite as me, which is why I find it strange we look so similar. As a child, Papa would dress us up in the same outfits, to make us match, even if Dad didn't like it, which is why Papa allowed him to give us the same short haircut until we were old enough to pick our own. No one could tell us apart by just looking, they were surprised that our parents could tell us apart. Once someone got to know us two it was like we were positive and negative, I was nervous and quiet, he was confident a loud.

Now-a-days we seem like bigger opposites than before. I became skinny and pale, with long hair and my eyes darkened in colour. My brother became "buff," as he describes it, he's got shorter hair and less sickly looking skin along with keeping those bright blue eyes. Really, I seem to be the only one who changed.

I call Alfred 'Alfie' but he hates it, demanding I call him by his full name or 'Al' but I like to tease him. He's weird, he doesn't like our parents as much as I do, he doesn't really like them at all, really.

He craves attention and has always needed it since he was young yet he calls Dad and Papa by their names and constantly reminds them that they aren't his real parents. I kind of hate him for that, how can you just do that to your own parents, they cared for us since we were just weeks old, how can I love them so much while he seems to hate them.

My whole life has been traveling around, since as long as I can remember. Dad wasn't an accountant then, he had this job were he managed things from branches of his company all over the world. We'd pick up everything and move from country to country, renting new apartments in each place. We were homeschooled at that time.

Our first few years were spent in Seaside, Oregon, but I can't remember any of that. I can, however remember my time spent in France, the one country I actually made lasting friends since I speak fluent French. I'm still friends with them, we write letters to each other because we believe it is better than using phones to text. We'd walk around the city together and get foods from different restaurants, just talking and eating great food. I made my first crush in France, but I was never able to get close enough to him to send him letters after I moved away, which is a real shame.

Now, we're back in Oregon, this time in Portland, because Dad decided he wasn't going to travel anymore so we can go to public school. We moved here at the beginning of July, right after we turned 15, getting an apartment a few blocks from the high school. We were going to start school at the end of August, going into Sophomore year with everyone else so we're not much of the 'new' kids.

Everything was going well, we were moving in fine when I fell down the stairs carrying some boxes a few days after we arrived. I got hurt pretty bad, broke my right wrist and messed up my leg pretty bad. The wrist needed a cast but the leg needed surgery and lots of time to heal. So I couldn't get to school on time. I couldn't get the school until about halfway through October, though I still had a brace and a limp when I arrived.

I came to school in the thick of things, my brother had already made a reputation for himself but I was the weird new kid with a limp. I have no idea what there is to come but I can't say I'm not terrified.


	2. First Day

"Daaaad!!! Dad! Dad! Dadadaaaad!!" The sandy blonde one year old screamed from his cage of a crib across the room from the couple. The two had thought they'd finally succeeded in getting Alfred to sleep, but they were mistaken once again.

Francis was holding their other son with Arthur standing beside him, Matthew himself was almost asleep, clinging to his father's shirt with half-lidded eyes.

"Dad! No! No no no! Dad!" The screaming of the two twins had already learned a few words, his favorite of those four words being 'no.' Matthew, on the other hand, had yet to speak at all, still responding to everything with senseless baby-babble and tears.

"He's calling for you, babe." Francis gave his husband a grin, elbowing him in the side, sort of pushing him to the other side of the room. It might be a rude gesture to push your husband, but Francis had lost too much sleep because of that boy to care at this point.

"No, we don't know that, I bet he's calling for you, you're better with them anyway." At this point the two were like grade school children, both not wanting to do a task they both wanted done.

"No, no, no, you're 'dad,' mon amour!" Francis leaned towards his husband, planting a kiss on his temple. As a way of convincing the other to go to their son, he held up Matthew in front of his face.

The one-year-old reached out and placed his tiny hands on his father's forehead and said, in a quiet voice, "Amour!"

"Holy shit..." Arthur was shocked, Francis could only laugh, though he tried not to.

"That's right Matthew!" Alfred's yelling was forgotten as Francis laughed, pulling Matthew closer to him so he wouldn't drop the child.

"Don't encourage him!" Arthur was red, grabbing Matthew from the other man and once again holding him up o his face. "I'm Dad! D-A-D! Dad!"

"Amour, A-mour!" Was Matthew's reply.

The high pitched blaring resonating around the room is what awoke Matthew that morning. As he opened his eyes to the blurry world things other than the alarm seemed to become more clear to his drowsy brain.

He first became aware of the cold of the room, the covers not doing much to keep him warm. Next he noticed that music was playing from the headphones which he had fallen asleep with the previous night. The soft sounds of Indie music distracted him from the alarm.

After a few songs from his playlist a pillow hit him in the side of the face with a light 'thump' noise, causing Matthew to jump up and yank the headphones off his head.

"Turn that damned thing off!" It was his brother who spoke, laying pillow-less in a bed across the room. The covers were pulled tightly around his body, his back facing his brother, looking as if he had already fallen back asleep.

Matt only nodded even if Alfred couldn't see it, doing as he was told and stopping the blaring from continuing. He swung his feet over the side of his bed, letting the feeling of the cold hardwood under his feet fully wake him up as he took slow steps around the room.

His first order of business was to return his brother's pillow, placing it next to his twin's head rather than ungracefully chucking it like the other had done. He gathered together a towel and the outfit he had picked the night before, slipping out into the dimly lit hallway to slink his way to the bathroom before anyone else woke up.

He enjoyed to wake up about an hour earlier than the rest of his family, so he could get ready without having to inconvenience any of them. He liked to say he just wanted to be helpful but he truly liked the lonely silence that settled around him while everyone was sleeping.

He turned the shower to high, liking the almost burning water on a cold day, and pulled his headphones from his phone to play his playlist on their speakers. 3 Rounds and a Sound by Blind Pilot immediately started playing, seeming like the perfect song for the morning.

Matthew sat in front of the TV, one leg propped up on the coffee table with a dangerously full bowl of cereal balanced on his other leg, crossed under the first one. Just as he shoved the first few bites of cereal into his mouth, his dad walked towards the kitchen, yawning loudly, just like every morning.

"Is that coffee?" His dad questioned, leaning on the back of the couch and pointing to a mug sitting next to Matthew's leg on the table. He was wearing formal clothes and water dropped off his hair onto the couch, showing that he must've just showered.

"Yeah, it's mine." The teenager used his leg to push the mug out of his dad's

reach, wincing slightly as the movement caused his leg to hurt.

"Teenagers don't need caffeine," Arthur leaned over the couch, reaching as far as he could and gabbing the mug for himself. "Plus you should stop using your leg so much, you'll mess it up for life." He muttered with his classic parenting tone, sipping the coffee.

"I've been laying around for weeks, dad, I just got to get used to it and I'll be fine." He shoveled more spoonfuls of cereal into his mouth, turning his attention to the rerun of some stupid renovating show that everyone seemed to love. Like every episode, they found something wrong with the house that made it so the budget wasn't enough and the owners aren't gonna give them anything more. "Oh that reminds me, I really wanna walk to school with Alfie, is it okay? You don't have to drive me, so you could stay alone with Papa before you go to work. I feel bad about you guys having to take care of me when I couldn't walk."

His dad looked surprised, still leaning over the back of the couch. "I didn't think Alfred would want to walk with you, I didn't even know you were still close enough for you to call him 'Alfie'... but either way I'm driving you, your leg still needs to heal." He attempted to hop over the the back of a couch like a teenager in a crappy movie, almost spilling his room temperature coffee on the both of them. "Plus, I get plenty of alone time with your father even when you were home all day. I got this apartment because you can't hear through the walls."

Matthew made a gagging motion, trying to show his disgust with his dad's statement. "I'll let you drive me if you never say stuff like that again. Usually you get annoyed when Papa says something like that." He put his bowl of cereal on the table, acting like he'd lost his appetite.

"I know, I married a gross man, I'm just being honest." He drank more coffee, trying to understand what was happening in the tv show currently playing. "You should go wake up your brother, he needs to leave soon if he's gonna walk, we can stay here for about ten more minutes before we have to get going."

Matthew walked down an empty hallway, following a bouncy, silver haired girl as she lead him through the school. The halls were large and echo-y, which sort of creeped out Matthew. He was often paranoid, even if he couldn't understand why, he just always had a feeling of impending danger. Nothing has ever happened to him to cause this, he was just like that, which is one of the reasons he found it hard to talk to most people.

"We've got the West wing and the East wing." The girl spoke in a high pitched tone, seeming overly sweet. As she spoke she made gestures, pointing first to a hall on the left then to the right. "We call the west wing the 'Art Hall,' because all the electives are located there, so all door numbers start with 'A' if they're there. The east wing is the 'Book Hall' because, well, the library is there. Door numbers start with 'B' there!" Her hands moved a lot as she spoke, like she couldn't figure out what to do with them and Matthew couldn't help but stare at their movements as the girl spoke.

She seemed to notice and promptly snapped her hands behind her back, giving Matthew what looked like a weak glare. "We have blue days and gold days, which alternate. Even periods are on blue days, odd periods are on gold days. It's easy to get confused at first but the screen in the common area says what day it is each morning. Mondays are the only day there's homeroom, unless there's an assembly or its finals week. You're in the same homeroom, with the same people all four years." She spoke fast, and when she had finished she counted on her fingers, seemingly to make sure she had mentioned everything. Matthew hadn't spoken the entire time, not even to introduce himself, he had let his counselor do that. "Let's see, school colors are blue and gold, our mascot is an otter, we have a school news cast every homeroom... that's it, I guess. You got all that, blondie?"

"Oh, uh... yes, thank you." He smiled, pretending one of his friends were in front of him so it seemed genuine. He reached up and fiddled with his hair, twirling a strand around his finger.

The girl snorted. "Nice accent... anyway, go to homeroom and introduce yourself. Follow the signs." She thrusted some papers into his hands before walking off, her shoes clicking and echoing off the walls.

The blonde boy felt less paranoid now that he was alone, letting his shoulders sag as he read the papers, heading to the art hall to find his homeroom. He'd never been to a public school but he hadn't imagined this, everything felt too open and empty, nothing seemed like movies or tv shows had showed. A pair of earbuds dangled from his jacket pocket as he walked, and Matthew contemplated just skipping the whole introducing himself thing by listening to music in a supply cabinet, but he'd promised his dad he wouldn't misbehave.

As he neared the end of the hall he stopped at a black door with white animals drawn all over it, it fit the part of being in the art hall all right. A fox 'held' up the sign in the middle of the door which said 'A126' and after a quick glance at the schedule Matthew confirmed that this was his homeroom.

He ran a hand through his hair, before grabbing a strand near the back and fiddling with it. He couldn't just stand there, but he really wanted to, just staring at the painted door.

Eventually, he slowly opened the door. The room was about half full of students, spread out in little groups. He noticed his brother first, he was near the front of the class room with his feet propped up on a table in front of him. Next to him we're two boys, one wearing a jersey and the other wearing a shirt featuring the school's otter mascot. There was also a girl with long dark brown hair, she was pretty but Matthew felt she looked too skinny.

He glanced at some of the other students as he walked over to the teachers desk. The classroom had raised levels, so the desks in the back were highest, sort of like a college lecture room. The front of the room had a large open area which was the lowest part of the room, it only contained the teachers desk. On the wall behind the desk was a chalk board and a projector screen.

He only smiled weakly at the teacher, who was an older woman with a kind smile, and handed her a slip from his counselor which explained his situation. While she read he looked out at the students again, most people hadn't noticed him but there were some people in the back who meet his eye.

"Okay, listen up, teenagers." The teacher, who Matthew was sure was named Ms Roberts, pushed herself up to her feet and stood in front of the class, instantly silencing the room. "We've got a new student, he's going to introduce himself, be nice." She gestured to Matthew before going back to sit at her desk.

Matthew tried to smile at Alfred, wanting to be calmed by his brother's presence but the other just rolled his eyes. "Well, I'm Matthew Kirkland, I would've been here in August but I broke my leg." He gestured to his injured leg, trying to ignore the few scattered giggles he heard as he spoke. "So that's why I've got a limp. Oh, and Alfred's my brother." He pointed to Alfred who seemed to sigh and look away, his friends looked sort of confused.

"Welcome, Matthew. Go find a seat anywhere. The news will be on in a few minutes." She clicked some things on her computer and soft music began to play, prompting the class to start conversing once again. Matthew instantly decided he was going to sit in the back, away from all the eyes of his classmates.

As he passed by Alfred, he heard a short bit of what his friends were saying, they seemed shocked that he had a twin. Matthew just ignored it, Alfred could tell his friends anything he wanted, how would he have been brought up in conversation anyway.

Matthew sat a few seats away from another group of people, next to a window where he could see the street. He shoved his earbuds in to play his own music, which instantly made him feel like some edgy outcast. He glanced once again at his brother's group before letting his eyes wander to other people. There was a group of girls a few rows away from his brother, two looked a lot alike, both having the same haircut with red ends blending into almost black hair, next to them was a red haired girl, covered in freckles and a tall girl with a blue, blonde, and brown pixie cut.

Nearby that group was a boy and a girl, the girl wore a video game shirt and the boy had many key chains on his bag from various games. The two seemed to be a couple, seemed fitting.

"What ya listening to, posh boy." Matthew jumped, his chair being pushed back in his shock and almost causing him to fall on the floor. His earbuds had fallen out when his jumped and he could hear the laughing of whoever had spooked him. "Wow, calm down!" The sentence was punctuated by an odd laugh, Matthew felt like his heart was going to beat out of his chest but he tried to appear calm as he turned to whoever was next to him.

The boy in front of him was tall with long limbs and a skinny body. He wore a grey band shirt and dark pre-ripped skinny jeans, with a black hoodie tied loosely around his hips. He had really pale skin, like Matthew had never seen, and he thought he was pretty pale but next to this boy he'd look tan. His hair was an almost white color and looked slightly overgrown, or maybe just cut choppily.

"P-posh boy?" Matthew's voice came weak, since he was still slightly shocked by the approach. The other stopped laughing, allowing Matthew to see his almost violet blue eyes. "Why am I posh boy?" His words were louder now, more understandable and they prompted a grin to spread across the other's face.

"Because of how you speak, you're in America, and you're speaking with a British accent, not an American one." The boy shrugged, pulling out the seat next to Matthew's and taking a seat, putting his elbow on the table to prop up his head as he looked at Matthew. He mostly spoke like every American Matthew had heard but he put weird emphasis in some words, making Matthew wonder if he had changed the way he spoke.

"Well, I'm British... So is Alfred." The boy rolled his eyes.

"Please, Alfred is the most American kid I know, all about football and hamburgers, I've never heard him say anything relatively British ever."

"That can't be true, I live with him, I should know." Matthew glanced back down to his brother, he'd spoken to him just that morning and he sounded the same as always.

"Well, whatever. I'm Gilbert, by the way. What lunch do you got, Mattie? Because you're hanging out with me." Matthew looked back at Gilbert, who was now picking at a piece of tape on the table, had he already made a friend? He couldn't be sure but it was usually harder than this. Gilbert caught his eye, raising an eyebrow "What?"

"Nothing, um, second lunch..."


	3. Dream Journal

Hello journal! Or, rather, hello psychology teacher and psychology time capsule diggers! This journal belongs to me, Matthew Bonnefoy-Kirkland. This journal was created in my sophomore, the 2018-2019 school year.

October 23rd, 2018

Today is Tuesday morning, and I was all jittery because Monday was my first day of school that I didn't sleep last night, but Mr. Yarrow said to do some personality based stuff so a song I like and guess I connect to is Don't Ask Me Why by Great Ceaser. It's a good song, future guy(or gal,) so listen to it.

That's it, see ya later journal!

October 24th, 2018

So, I need to write this quick before I forget. So, the dream started in France, it was me alone walking around the totally empty streets of Paris. And I just walked around in a blur and I think I was feeling scared but that's pretty normal. It was my favorite place mixed with the weird feeling of empty public school halls.

That's all, talk to you tomorrow, journal!

October 25th, 2018

Another dreamless night, journal, so here's another song that you should listen to. It's called Miss You Always by SNCKPCK, it repeats itself a lot.

Promise this is the last song. Until tomorrow, journal!

October 26th, 2018

I had a really jumbled, all over the place dream, journal. I left my headphones on which caused this indie music fueled nightmare. I was a little kid again, running away from a freaky stuffed bear that I'm pretty sure was the one I carried around when I was, like, four. Anyway, the scenery would change every once in a while, might have something to do with the music.

Later, journal!

October 27th, 2018

So this dream was way more calm than yesterday's. I was hanging out with my friends, but I can't remember their voices so they never spoke we kind of just... sat there. It felt like being in a café with them again. I should create a skype group for us, so I don't totally forget their voices...

Bye, journal, love ya!

October 28th, 2018

It's Sunday morning, I haven't slept, ya know why, because my parents left for a hotel for the weekend, like parents do, but Alfred had his friends over and, man, do they love to shout! I'm not bothered by them in any other way, they're just loud and like profanity. Alfred sort of locked me in our room while they took over the house. I don't know what to write, that should be personality based enough.

So long, journal.

October 29th, 2018

Good Monday morning! I had a dream about giving a presentation but just about everything that could go wrong did go wrong. Anyway, I need to get ready for school.

Bye-bye, journal blue.


	4. Group Work

"Alfred, Noah, please sit down! David put your phone away." It was like Ms Roberts could see everything as she started shouting at her students the moment she walked into the classroom.

Matthew sat in the back of the room with a group of other students. Gilbert, the boy he met on the first day, had his arm around Matthew. That's the thing he noticed about his new friend, Gilbert was pretty affectionate, even if they've only known each other a week. They barely knew much about each other besides some little things like their music tastes, their friendship is mostly just Gilbert dragging Matthew around and being very openly affectionate to him.

Sitting on Matthew's other side was a dark haired girl with tan skin and dark makeup who he believed to be named Nova. She was a small girl with chubby cheeks, which made her look like a child wearing her mother's makeup. From what Matthew had seen, she was much nicer than she looked but liked being sarcastic. She also spoke fluent Spanish, which had made Matthew think of bringing up that he was also bilingual to attempt to make friends.

Next to Gilbert sat a boy with a golden tan skin tone and multicolored hair. His hair was pretty curly naturally, but he straightened it for the most part. Matthew only knows his name, which was Jason.

There were others in Gilbert's group of friends, but they weren't in Matthew's classes and he'd only just glimpsed them at lunch, so he didn't know much about any of them.

Matthew was only acutely aware of the conversation around him, favoring just staring at a page in his notebook where he scribbled random things and words. He was drawing stars when Gilbert pulled him closer, causing his pencil to trail across the whole of the page.

"Mattie, what was your first word?" Gilbert was so close he could feel the other's breath on his ear, which made Matthew shiver slightly. "Mine was some variation of 'mom.'"

"Oh, um, I think it was 'Amour.' But my dad would say it was 'Alfie,' I think." As Matthew spoke he pulled his chair closer to Gilbert's with his foot so he didn't feel like he was leaning over towards the other.

"So your mom and dad have two different stories?" Nova leaned forward on the table, propping her head up with her hand.

"Uh, no, not my mom. I don't really have a m--"

"Oh, shit, Sorry! Didn't realize." Nova cut Matthew off to speak. "Then who told the other story."

"No, um, I had a mom, at some point, I guess. But she didn't want me... or Alfred, we were adopted. I've got two dads!" Matthew subconsciously leaned into Gilbert, not knowing how the others would react to his family.

"Wow, what? You got gay dads? That's so cool! Your brother made it seem like you had the typical middle class, working dad, stay-at-home mom two kids American family. But two dads, that so much cooler!" To Matthew, Gilbert's enthusiasm was a bit much, he'd never gotten a positive reaction with as much energy as Gilbert had. Nova and Jason didn't seem to have any strong reaction, they just laughed at their friend. Matthew smiled slightly, he felt slightly less uneasy around Gilbert, even feeling safe at times when they were this close, like he was being protected.

"Quiet in the back." Gilbert was still excitedly speaking when Ms Roberts called out to quiet him and Matthew was pulled back into the reality of being in an unsafe classroom surrounded by mostly strangers with unknown intentions. He pulled himself away from Gilbert, pulling his seat into the desk so the pale boy's arm was no longer around him.

Mathew dug his pencil into the paper in front of him, dragging it around and making rips in the page. To avoid looking back at the three students around him.

"Today, we have a special project, one of the biggest projects you'll get from homeroom, so listen good. It has to do with family, so, Alfred and Matthew, you can't be in the same group and you better not have the same presentation--"

"Like I'd let you join his group. You probably would, though. You don't seem to realize he's a dick." Gilbert leaned in towards Matthew's ear and whispered, distracting him from the rest of the teacher's words.

"He's a good person, you just don't know him, now shush!" He shoved the pale boy away as subtly as he could, trying to seem playful rather than rude. If asked, he'd say it was because he wanted to pay attention, but really he just wanted some space, since he never seemed to have a personal bubble around Gilbert and his friends.

"I know him enough, he called me a demon-eyed faggot on the first day. He was the new kid for five seconds and then the school started loving him the moment they saw he was a handsome, football-playing asshole." Gilbert seemed to move closer, if it were possible, making Matthew wonder if he knew what boundaries were at all. "Oh, you're just so innocent, but you'll have to see soon who you'd rather associate yourself with. And that is me, because I'm awesome while Alfred's dumb." He sighed, busing himself with ripping the edges of Matthew's notebook. "Or else you'll be the target of his friend's teasing." He leaned himself on Matthew with a sigh, like he was settling down for sleep.

Alfred seemed to sense his twin's staring, so he turned to look up at Matthew, looking a bit confused before sticking his tongue out with a slightly annoyed look and turning back to his friends to whisper. Matthew stared at the group chatting before pushing Gilbert away with a bit more force, the other boys chair dragging on the floor and causing a sound that brought attention to them.

"Gilbert, Matthew, care to explain your interruption of my class?" Ms Roberts stared at them from the front of the room, looking bored and unfazed as always. She had a stack of papers in her hand, which she must have been dividing up to be passed out as her fingers made breaks in the stack.

"You know, just making out, the usual!" Gilbert almost shouted across the classroom, seeming calm about the embarrassing statement. He smirked at the reactions he got from his classmates, which must have made Ms Roberts even more unamused.

"No, no." Matthew could feel his face heating up as he sank down into his chair, his fingernails scraped unpleasantly on the wooden bottom as he gripped the sides. "Not making out, Gilbert just fell." His voice was high with embarrassment and it suddenly felt like something was caught in his throat. All feelings came up at once, all his hatred of public school and anxiety about these new friends, along with the paranoia of what would happen if he continued to show this weakness to the staring classroom. He wanted to leave, but he couldn't, normal teenagers aren't even fazed about a comment like that, but he could also bet that no other teenager in the room thought up all the paranoia filled thoughts he did.

He just stared down at his lap, taking long breaths and ignoring everything around him. He was normally pretty good at looking fine, but something about his trust in his brother being questioned sort of pushed him out of the zone of 'fine.' He hadn't noticed that everyone had stoped looking at him as soon as he said Gilbert fell, so he didn't have that to ease him. His 'friends' didn't pay too much attention, he just looked slightly embarrassed to them, they couldn't hear his thoughts, so they just continued to listen to the teacher, Gilbert slinging his arm around Matthew once again.

He was able to calm himself again pretty quickly, but he didn't bother paying attention to the rest of the class, opting to stare absentmindedly at his notebook, the conversation that eventually started up around him barely being registered by his brain as actual words. He was snapped into reality with a bell, everyone had already packed and were filing out of the classroom, leaving Matthew sitting there alone, scrambling to shove his stuff in his bag so he could hurry to his next class.

The hall was crowded, as always. Groups had already formed in the short time since the bell, making maneuvering the river of teenagers even harder. Most groups were outside classrooms, waiting for doors to open or just waiting until the last possible moment to go in and sit down. The west hall always had more people in the hallways, since the classrooms were usually all locked until the bell starting class, considering they were elective classes filled with equipment that they didn't want stolen. Matthew stuck close to the wall, running his hand along the painting of a cartoonish otter as he passed it, rolling his eyes slightly at it. He was near the office in the center of the school when someone grabbed the hood of his jacket. Causing him to stumble forward, yelping as he almost fell, being grabbed by the arm at the last minute. He expected to turn and see Gilbert, but was instead face to face with his brother.

"Oh! Alfie. What's up?" He straightened out his clothes as he spoke, feeling a bit safer in the presence of his brother, almost being able to ignore the crowds of students moving around him. His brother didn't exactly look excited to see him, he looked more annoyed, with his arms crossed and his eyes narrowed.

"Look, you can't hang out with the albino kid or any of the other gay kids, I don't want to be associated with them in any way. And drop the accent, you sound like a dick." He spoke quickly, getting straight to the point. Matthew felt a little hurt by the words, the bluntness of his twins words like a stab and he definitely didn't expect that. Alfred seemed to notice though and his expressed changed slightly, to have a softer look in his eyes. "Trust me, it's for your own good. I can't take your side if you get picked on, so just, don't hang out with them, don't talk about Francis or Arthur, speak like an American, and don't make yourself out to be a weirdo."

"Uh—" He didn't even get a chance to speak before the other blonde flashed him a smile then turned away, melding into the mob of students easily. Matthew sat, staring at the place Alfred had been, shocked, before shaking it off and making his way to his first period of the day, Art.

Arriving in the classroom was uneventful, the teacher was sitting at her desk, playing her artsy-folk music while her class settled in. Matthew had been to Art class two times now, so he didn't need instructions on what to do. He went over to the tall wall filled with vertical, thin cubbies holding each about ten portfolios, running his hand along them until he pulled out his, which didn't have much drawn on it yet, though he planned to have it covered soon. On his way to the table, he grabbed a few charcoal pencils and a blending stump.

He pulled out his paper and stared at the sketch he had already. The assignment was to draw something that would give of a 'Halloween' or 'October' vibe, since it was so close to he spooky holiday. Matthew drew a human skull, but he expected others to draw sugar skulls so he decided against that direction. He instead drew a mouse in the skull, with flowers laying around the skull. The mouse was supposed to represent all the kids, wearing cute costumes, and the flowers were supposed to add a little bit of 'the day of the dead' into it, even if that wasn't the assignment. He was allowed to draw his piece anyway he wanted, so he went away from the majority of the class and decided to draw it in black and white, drawing as close to realism he could.

He was getting ready to begin drawing when he felt a gentle tap on the shoulder. It was light and quick, almost as if it had never happened and Matthew thought for a moment that he had actually imagined it. He didn't want to risk ignoring someone so he glanced back behind him to see one of his classmates fiddling with his hands in a nervous way. They had a soft jawline and pink lips that looked overly chewed. Their eyes were wide and round, having a blue, almost gray color to them. They were pretty short, wearing an oversized, lightly colored hoodie that exposed one of their shoulders. They were picking at their nails, thought Matthew could barely tell as their selves were long enough to cover their hands. Matthew honestly couldn't tell if the person standing in front of them was a boy or girl.

Their eyes slowly traveled from the floor up to look at Matthew's face, though not quite his eyes, and they proceeded to bite down on the corner of their lip, drawing a little speck of blood before speaking. "Hi, you, uh. Well, you probably don't know me, but, my name's Kristopher, we've sat at the same lunch table for, like, the past week. I'm Jason's friend, so I doubt Gilbert pointed me out to you, I'm pretty easy to miss, if he did he probably called me Kris, they all call me Kris, or Krissie... But I just wanted to come over because you don't seem to talk to anyone in this class and neither do I so maybe we could sit together so we're not, like, lame loner weirdos. We'll instead be just lame weirdos." They smiled for a second before faltering a little. "I-I didn't mean to call you a lame loner weirdo, I'm sorry, just..." they trailed off, their eyes drifting down to the floor once again and Matthew thought he looked like he could cry at any moment.

Matthew stared for a moment, noticing how nervous they looked, which was something Matthew could feel he could relate to. A smile spread across his face and he laughed a little.

"I'd love for you to come sit with me, we can talk while we work. You seem like someone I could get along with." He saw a genuine smile spread across the others lips as they placed all their things down in the spot next to Matthew. As they were placing their supplies out Matthew glanced up and down at the other, they wore old running shoes and baggy jeans, their brown hair was short, with almost shaved sides, but he couldn't spot anything that would give a solid clue toward the new comers gender.

"I'm a boy." The other must've noticed his staring, because he spoke up in a hurried tone, his eye brows pushed together in a sort of frustrated way, but he stared down at his art.

"Oh, I'm sorry for staring, I must be— Sorry." Matthew looked away, embarrassed, fussing with his hair to ignore the sudden awkwardness.

"It's fine, I'm used to worse. I kinda hate when people ask, usually. I just try to drop hints so they don't. I swear Jason only asked me out because he thought I was a girl. I am what made him realize he was Bi, anyway." Kris laughed, the little bit of tension melting away.

Matthew was a little shocked by the other speaking almost without fear, but he could also tell that the smaller boy's voice shook and he still fiddled with his hands. It only took him a moment to realize the other's tactic, open up about what others might dislike about him so he could know if new people were bothered by that, it was smart, but it must take guts to spill all that when first meeting someone.

"Um, what do you think about my drawing?" Kris pushed his art over to Matthew, it was a half outlined drawing of the busts of two people that looked to be standing back to back. The taller of the two wore a cartoonish fox mask with a realistic muzzle that foamed at the mouth. It was carrying a single arrow, pricking it's right finger on the head. The other wore a cartoon character mask, with tears flowing in large drops down into the persons cupped hands, leaking from between it's fingers. The drawing was done on watercolor paper, so Matthew could only assume Kris meant to paint in its colors later.

"Holy cow, that's good! And creepy, like, wow." Matthew looked at the other boy's face, he almost couldn't believe someone could have that talent and not be the most confident person in the world. "You're pretty much better than a professional, you could sell this kind of thing for money." Matthew was sort of shocked to find his fear was almost nonexistent around the other boy, something about how small and gentle he looked just made Matthew calm, but also ready to protect the brunette.

"I don't know, I still need to improve, I'd feel bad taking money when I'm not really happy with my art yet." Kris laughed a little, pulling his art back under him to continue lining. Matthew stared at the boy for a few seconds before turning to begin drawing the details of the mouse in his drawing. He felt like he had a genuine friend in the school, sure Gilbert said they were friends and dragged him around, but the albino never seemed to really sit down and talk, so Matthew knew barely anything about him. He wasn't doubting he could be friends with Gilbert, he defiantly felt like he was safe around him, and he was sure they shared interests, but Matthew wasn't sure if he could consider them friends just yet.


	5. Group Message

Matthew had his school things spread out in front of him, covering just about every inch of his twin sized bed. He and Alfred had insisted that twin sized beds were for children and they needed bigger ones, but their parents insisted, finding it funny because the two 15-year-olds were twins. Matthew rolled his eyes at the memory when he heard a chime from his side table, the signature sound of an incoming text message. He grabbed the phone, happy for the distraction.

Unknown Number 1: Yo, Mattie, David Bowie or Freddie Mercury?

Matthew didn't recognize the number on the screen, or the two others in the chat, but obviously they knew him, as his name was used, so he decided to text back. Considering he felt more confident communicating electronically than face-to-face, he couldn't imagine anything bad coming out of the interaction

Matthew: Who be all you?

Unknown Number 2: Wow, it uses improper grammar. This is shocking.

Unknown Number 3: Don't be a dick, Jason. Hey Matthew, this is Nova!

Unknown Number 1: And I'm the AWESOME Gilbert

Matthew: oh...

Matthew: But how did you get my number?

Jason: Where do you think?

Nova: JASON!!!!

Nova: Sorry Matt, Jason's just being an ass because he found his boyfriend texting you.

Gilbert: and that's where we got your number

Gilbert: from snooping through the muffin's phone!

Matthew: Muffin? And you guys are snooping through Kris' phone? Isn't that a bit of an invasion of property, and why is Jason mad that I was texting Kris, we're friends.

Gilbert: We call Krissie Muffin, cuz he's fucking adorable, I mean, he's like a kitten in a pastel sweater. He's like visually soft. Also Jason was 'dating' some girls when he was first dating Kris because I guess the pot head was afraid of being a gay pot head so he pretended he wasn't dating Kris.

Nova: And then one day Kris was all like "you don't have to come out to the school or tell people about us being together but you can't be dating those girls anymore, even if it's pretend." And it was inspiring as heck, he threatened to break up with Jason.

Gilbert: And then pot head dyed his hair all rainbow and got this pride cape and got up at an assembly and told everyone he was in love with Kris and he didn't care what people called him it was so romantic. Kris was so embarrassed though I thought he was gonna die. He did cry I think.

Gilbert: him and Jason had this big long conversation and that was the end of freshman year and now there here.

Matthew: Geez. I'm not trying to steal your man, Jason, he's just in my art class and we bonded over Halloween.

Jason: He's amazing at art, isn't he?

Jason: Well, he's amazing at everything.

Jason: He's more than amazing, actually.

Nova: Gag.

Jason: Gag at you, Nova. Anyway, sorry if I acted dick-ish, Matt. I'm not some over protective boyfriend I've just never had a relationship like this before.

Gilbert: I didn't know you could be in love when you've killed your brain with weed.

Jason: Shut up!

Matthew stared at his phone for a long while, his finger hovering over the text box, wondering if he should reply or simply just watch the interaction go on. It felt weird entering a group of friends who have seemed to know each other for so long, being told stories they had all witnessed, but he had to admit, he kind of liked it. They had fun, and some of their jokes made him laugh, he could defiantly get used to having friends like these.

Nova: So...

Nova: We gonna discuss that project from homeroom? We're obviously a group.

Nova: Well, unless Matthew doesn't want to, he doesn't really know us. What do you say, Matt?

Gilbert: There's no question, of course he's gonna join us.

Matt: I mean, yeah.

Nova: Great! So just describe your families, go!

Nova: I've got my parents, my dad's older than my mom by a few years. He's a cool dude, strong and stuff. He designs homes, he's like an architect, he went to and finished college all while helping my mom take care of me and now he's got this big crew and he's the boss and makes super cool houses and he built the house we're in now and specially designed mine and my sibling's rooms for us. My mom is a super mom, she got her business degree after my dad by doing online school in her off time, instead of resting and now she's climbing her way up the ranks in this toy company. When I was ten my mom had my little brother and three years later had my sister and now she's pregnant again. Since my parents work, I'm the master babysitter and I make sure to teach the little ones spanish so, even though we're successful, we don't forget our culture and all that junk. The children don't have much more personality than 'scream.'

Jason: Well, my mom's this doctor student, thing. She was just a receptionist before but a little while ago she decided she was going back to college so she could be a doctor so we live with my grandparents so we don't have to pay rent. My grandpa was in the army but now he works a desk job, and my grandma is this amazing cook, but it's like she can't taste spice because if she makes curry she doesn't think it's spicy enough while I feel like my mouth's of fire. My dad's this awkward dude, he manages a little bakery-thing and lives in an apartment above it. He split with my mother but they still have a good relationship as friends, they just say they were too young when they got married. I still go to see him a lot, even if he lives in Seattle.

Gilbert: I live with my mom, my dad died before my brother was born, I was only, like, three so I don't remember him and it's a little sad but it doesn't affect me at all. My mom is a waitress at this cool diner in the city, she also helps tutor some kids learning English at elementary schools. I was born in Germany, so was my little brother, and we moved to California when I was like 5 and I remember hating it because I only spoke German and I couldn't understand anyone else but I knew they thought I looked weird and even when I learned English people didn't understand me because I had an accent, my brother was only like one so he wasn't affected as much. But my mom put me through speech therapy and I lost my accent, mostly. I still know German, though. We moved to Oregon right before my little brother started school, so, like, 7 years ago. My little brother is tall for his age and awkward and he's just starting middle school and he's always angry so I love teasing him because he's so much better at actually trying at school than me.

Matthew: Well, my parents, I call them dad and papa, were looking to adopt since before their wedding and then they got married and then my mystery mom ditched me and Alfred at some place, like, right after we were born so my parents get a call and they're like, yeah. And a little while later they took us home and they decided to make that day our birthday. My dad is a strict, British businessman and he is the reason I got my accent and he kinda hated me and Alfred speaking French, even if my papa wanted us to, he made sure we spoke the way he thought was proper. My papa is a cool French freelance artist who's a good cook and has that cool French accent and he would make make my dad mad by teaching us to speak French all the time when we were young because he stayed at home with us. We stared traveling when I was young and we went all over the place for my dad's job and me and Alfred were home schooled but this summer my dad said fuck it and he quit and found an accounting job here so we could be normal, I guess, now we're here.

Gilbert: Yuck, Alfred

Matthew: Alfie's not yuck. He's great and smart and he protected me when we were younger and he always has the best intentions and he's always looking out for me.

Gilbert: 'Alfie?'

Gilbert: Gosh, you're brainwashed.

Matthew: I'm not, he's my brother. My twin brother! I know him.

Jason: Matt, hate to be rude but he's kind of a dick to most people.

Nova: Yeah, he called me a lesbian in front of the dance team, all of them requested that I don't use the woman's changing room with them because of that, it was so embarrassing.

Jason: He ruined Kris' GSA posters and then told everyone he saw me destroying them. I thought Kris was going to cry when I finally found him hiding in a bathroom stall after it happened.

Gilbert: For a kid with what sounds like AMAZING gay parents, he's pretty homophobic.

Matthew: I still don't think he's the bad guy. Something must be wrong.

Gilbert: You can keep telling your self that, Birdie. Can I call you that? Cuz I'm calling you that now.

Matthew: Whatever.

Nova: Soooooo. What are y'all's Halloween plans? It's this Wednesday, ya know.

Gilbert: "What are you all is Halloween plans"

Gilbert: Who's using improper grammar now, eh, bicth?

Nova: Rude.

Gilbert: Anyway!! I'm gonna be a spoopy skeleton.

Nova: Again?

Gilbert: Yup! Jason?

Jason: Kris says he's gonna be this faun thing, I googled it, it's like a half animal thing.

Nova: A furry?

Jason: No, it's like a centaur type of half animal thing. Anyway, I'm probably gonna dress up as a hunter, just to annoy him.

Gilbert: Your such a romantic, really know how to keep your man.

Nova: *You're

Gilbert: FUCK

Gilbert: OFF

Nova: HAHAHA

Nova: What about you Matt?

Matthew: I've never really done Halloween before.

Gilbert: What!?

Jason: Like, seriously??

Nova: Excuse me, sir! You're telling me you've never felt the joy of dressing up and getting free candy before?

Matthew: Yeah, we moved around and some other countries don't celebrate like we do so we just skipped it.

Nova: That's it! We're getting you a great ass costume and you're going to have a sick first Halloween with us!


End file.
